Area angler takes top Lake Fork bass prize

By Larry Tucker
editor@wood.cm
Posted 5/26/22

Lee Livesay of Longview took home the BassMaster Elite title at Lake Fork Sunday. Livesay is originally from Kilgore and Lake Fork is his home lake. Livesay turned in a four-day total of 113 pounds, …

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Area angler takes top Lake Fork bass prize

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Lee Livesay of Longview took home the BassMaster Elite title at Lake Fork Sunday. Livesay is originally from Kilgore and Lake Fork is his home lake. Livesay turned in a four-day total of 113 pounds, 11 ounces. 

He won $100,000 for first place, his second BassMaster Elite championship this season.

The weekend festival sponsored by the Sabine River Authority (SRA), Pilot Club of Quitman and the Wood County Economic Development Commission (WCEDC) proved to be a great partnership.

WCEDC Executive Director Christoph Trahan was pleased with the results.

“Our goal this year was definitely to put more into the marketing of the event to see a bigger turnout than last year. We are going to run the numbers once we have the statistics in so we will have an economic impact analysis,” Trahan noted. “A big thank you to the SRA for everything they have done to help bring this event together. Also we are thankful for the Pilot Clubs of Quitman, Mineola and Winnsboro. The Quitman club was our direct tie-in partner and they did an absolutely stupendous job creating vendors, sponsorships and helped with the cost of the event. We need to thank Chris Bevill of Bevill Music and the Neon Moon for helping with all of the entertainment and sound at the concerts.”

On Saturday the festival found the heat and humidity dominating the day. However, the Bobby Irwin concert pulled in an estimated 1,500. With cooler weather, Sunday’s performance by the Bellamy Brothers drew over 2,000 country music and bass fishing fans.

Incoming Quitman Pilot President Susan Ukleja was happy with the weekend. 

“Our club is extremely grateful to Wood County, the WCEDC and SRA for the opportunity they gave us to participate and benefit from the BassMaster Elite. We are thankful to our many volunteers and the sponsors,” Ukelja said. “It was an extremely successful event that showcased Lake Fork and Wood County in the very best possible way. Ours is a close-knit community and we all work together to make things happen, and this is one of those instances where it all came together beautifully.”

Four bicycles were given away by the Pilots during their Bicycle Rodeo to Spencer Murphy, Emory Elliot, Cooper Jackson and Rosie Vazquez. Layken Stokes of Mineola was actually the Sunday winner but asked to re-draw because she had just got a new bicycle and she wanted it to go to someone who needed a new bicycle. Vazquez won the re-draw.

The raffle winner for a rifle donated by Minuteman Ordnance Company was Mike Lucas and Zane Neely won the Roomba vacuum.

The 5K results were overall male winner, Andres Granocchia with a time of 18.06.95 with Kendall Davis the overall female winner with a time of 20:40:18.

See photos on Page 10A